Obama: We Can Destroy ISIL Without American Troops Fighting in the Middle East

Thursday, President Barack Obama delivered a statement on the Senate and House voting to pass his request to arm and train Syria rebels to fight ISIS instead of using U.S. troops saying, “We can join with allies and partners to destroy ISIL without American troops fighting another ground war in the Middle East.”

Obama thanked the leaders in Congress saying, “This new effort will provide training and equipment to help them grow stronger and take on ISIL terrorists inside Syria. This programming be hosted outside of Syria in partnership support for Iraqi government and Kurdish forces in Iraq. This is in keeping with a key principle of our strategy. “

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He added, “The American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. Their mission is to advise and assist our partners on the ground. As I told our troops yesterday, we can join with allies and partners to destroy ISIL without American troops fighting another ground war in the Middle East.”